Crazy talk: Chargers and Super Bowl 48

Talking of the 2013 Chargers winning the Super Bowl, I know, could get me disbarred from professional football writing.

It’s pure lunacy to think the Chargers, who are 0-for-47 when swinging for the silver football, could snag Super Bowl 48.

What are the odds of it happening? Forty to 1, says oddsmaker RJ Bell of Pregame.com.

But when I asked Bell if others have beaten similar odds, his answer surprised me.

Two teams, in fact, have done it, each right here in the thrill-a-minute 21st Century.

Free of charge to Mike McCoy, who'll have need of motivational material, here’s the proof:

• – The 2001 Patriots. Odds: 60 to 1. Bill Belichick’s second Patriots team, coming off a 5-11 season, started out 1-4 but rallied to finish 11-5. Eking out three victories in the Super Bowl tournament, the Patriots claimed their first Lombardi, although Marshall Faulk has said they cheated.

• – The 2007 Giants. Odds: 30 to 1. The team was 8-8 the previous year, and critics doubted both Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning, who were in their fourth year together. The Giants went 10-6 to win a wild-card berth. Next came three road victories in the playoffs, and the Super Bowl upset of the Cheating Belichicks.

How many seasons passed between those two stunners? Five. How many seasons have gone by since the ’07 Giants lifted the trophy? Answering that would mean I’ve gone off the deep end.